Later that day Sokka woke up from his 'nap' (if you can put it that way) to find out who these mysterious Fire-benders truly were, "Dark Fire-benders? We're in a village full of dark Fire-benders?" Sokka asked Katara and Aang in disbelief.
"Yep, that's what Fenix told us…we're going to meet with the elder of the village at supper." Aang told him.
"Dark Fire?" Sokka asked again, still trying to take it all in.
"Yes Saki…we use a different flame then our national brethren, it is through the teachings and studies of our masters that we have been able to find the true nature to fire-bending." Said the explanative voice of Fenix.
"Oh…and the name is Sokka." Sokka replied.
"Oh, sorry…now come, the elder wishes to see you." Fenix told them, they followed Fenix to another hut where an old man dressed in three heavy robes, he had a white beard and long white hair that looked matted with age, but his gray eyes shimmered something of a great youth. "Ah…at last you and I should meet face to face Avatar, please sit and have a cup of tea with me." Rain said to them.
"You know I'm the Avatar?" Aang asked.
"Of course…for I myself am not unfamiliar with the Avatar cycle, in fact I have been expecting your arrival for some time. Now please have some tea?" Rain asked, Aang and the others sat down and had a sip of the tea. Soon another person came in to join them, light brown hair and a 5 o'clock shadow. "Ah Aldaris…good of you to join us. Please sit and have a cup of tea with us." Said Rain.
"Of course elder…I would be honored to be in the prescense of the elder and the Avatar," said Aldaris, "but I should warn you, Diablo is on his way here."
As soon as Aldaris sat down, Diablo entered, "Hello Aldaris, elder…may I join you for some tea?" Diablo asked, his voice having some light rudeness in it. "Hello Diablo." Aldaris replied, "You may Diablo…but be swift, we're with guests and I wouldn't want them getting the wrong impression of us through your example." The elder replied.
Diablo sat down, as he took a sip from his cup his red eye gazed at Aang…when he put it back down he smiled to himself and asked, "So you're the Avatar am I correct?" Aang nodded in response, "You know your past life…Avatar Roku was a Fire-bender right?" Diablo asked, Aang nodded again.
"Where is this conversation going Diablo?" Aldaris asked, and rather coldly at that.
Diablo just chuckled and said, "Isn't it obvious, where was he when our people were exiled? Where was he when we and our other brethren had to take three separate ships and scatter ourselves among the other four nations because Ozai would not stop hunting us until we were all dead? If you ask me, we should strike back at all the Fire Nation's out-posts…make them regret they'd ever banished us!"
"DIABLO! What you speak goes against everything the Tomaì stands for!" Argued Aldaris, the elder agreed calmly and said, "Plus more fighting means more bloodshed, more bloodshed means more death, more death leads to more hatred, more hatred leads to more suffering. Diablo, you'd be condemning us all with your belief that fighting is the only answer."
"Yeah, I mean take a look around, your people are carving out a healthy existence here if you ask me?" Katara told him, Diablo stared at her coldly and said, "Well did I ask you? No…so shut your mouth."
"You have no right to talk to Katara that way." Aang told him, Diablo then pulled out a dagger with two blades, one was small, thin, and shaped like a needle, the other twisted around it in a spiral, like a cork-screw. "I'll talk however I want, to whom ever I want, boy…Avatar or not, that's all you are to me…a little, weak, insignificant…boy." He said as he brandished the dagger around Aang's throat.
"I'd stop right there Diablo, unless you wish me to put you out of your as you've called it: 'suffering'?" asked a voice from the entrance to the hut, Diablo and everybody looked back to see a young man standing in the doorway, a black fireball in his hand. Diablo smiled fiendishly and said, "Templar Li…you know if it wasn't for you, these three would not have come looking for us."
"Enough everyone, is there not enough death already? It is a shame we must resort to violence." Said Rain sadly, Diablo removed his dagger from where he was brandishing it and said, "You know Rain…"
But Aldaris interrupted him and said, "You will refer to him as elder!"
"HE—WONT—BE—THE—ELDER—FOR LONG—ALDARIS!" roared Diablo, "He'll soon have to choose his predecessor, and when that time comes….I hope he'll choose wisely."
"Believe me Diablo…I will choose with the same wisdom my sensei and the prelate Aiur had when he chose me, but hear this Diablo, unless you put behind your hate for the Fire Nation and your violent passions, I will not choose you!" Rain told him. Diablo looked at the elder with a 'We'll see…we'll just see about that' kind of look in his eyes before storming out the door.
"I'm sorry elder I had to use my powers to discourage Diablo from attacking the Avatar, I shan't do it again." Said Templar Li, bowing low.
"I'm afraid I went temporarily blind and didn't see that Tem…but apology accepted anyway." Said Rain.
"Tem I believe you know the faces of the people who sit before us?" Aldaris asked, Templar Li took one look and said, "I'm sorry…I meant to refill the bowl when I left, but there was no soup left. Then I sensed the girl was awake so I used that dream spell you taught me Aldaris, I had no idea they'd come here!"
"No apology needed, for you have also brought us a great guest…Tem Li, you have brought in my presence the Avatar Aang." Rain told him, Templar Li looked at Aang and said, "By the Tomaì, we have been blessed."
Just then Momo leapt up onto Templar 'Tem' Li's left shoulder, "Momo…there you are!" Aang said happily, Templar Li scratched his head and asked, "So that's his name? Huh…found the little guy sneaking off with a biscuit I'd put in my traveling purse, chased the little thief all the way until I got to the stables when he glided off and gave me the slip."
"I just have one question," Sokka interrupted, "dark fire?"
"Ah yes, I felt someone as elementally lost as you…may have trouble understanding what that means, let me be more clear with you. I'm sure by now you are very accostum to normal Fire-Bending and its misused capabilities that our once brethren of certain nation enforce…well, unlike them it had been the study of my master, Aiur Xiao—,"
"Aiur Xiao was your mentor…he was one of Roku's students." Aang said rather amazed.
"Yes, now you see where everything is coming together now….but do not interrupt me again. My master trained with Avatar Roku for years, he became an exceptional Fire-bender, as powerful as Roku himself. But the phantom of something lingered on Aiur Xiao's mind…Fire was a powerful element, but he'd seen what it could accomplish when it went beyond the bender's control, he wondered if there was a way it could be made more stable…a more controlled flame that could be cast away or summonsed back to the bender whenever he wish it, he practiced years before finally having a working sample of what he was so desperate to create, a black flame, that could be compressed into the perfect ball, no rippling of flames what-so-ever!"
Rain then looked at Aang and said, "I think you should know what happened next."
"He showed his creation to me." Aang told him.
Rain nodded and continued, "At first he thought that Roku may not like this new creation of flame, but Roku smiled and said, 'This flame came from listening to your heart, young Xiao. You refused to listen to those who said it couldn't be done, you refused to let your mind conquer your heart…and this was your result'. Of course Roku's other followers did not believe it was a creation but an abomination to Fire-bending, and soon cursed Xiao…calling him a 'Prelate of Travesty'."
"Eventually he taught you, right?" Katara asked.
Rain nodded, "He put me through the same rigorous tests and trials, which the villagers now know as the 'Trials of the Tomaì'. He'd not met in his 7 years of the practice anyone who was as determined as me, and soon we spread our word to every village on the Fire Nation of our discovery and spreading our beliefs. By that time we had hundreds of followers…but it wasn't to last."
Rain then looked grimly down on himself, "The Emperor Pi-Kaow Li, got word of our teachings…fearing that it would get in the way of his own religion (being a mix of Confucius and the Hindu Caste System) made a royal decree that all teachings of the Tomaì were illegal and anyone practicing them would be charged with committing an act of heresy."
Rain then stopped to look at Tem Li, he saw that he was crying. "Excuse me elder, but may I be excused to leave?" he asked, his voice starting to water up.
"You may." Rain said with a nod.
As soon as Tem Li left Rain continued, "Well you could imagine my sensei's state of regret and shock, he was even asked to appear before Pi-Kaow Li to admit he was wrong, that the Tomaì did not hold the true nature of Fire-bending…he knew that if he imprisoned the prelate that stood before him, it might start a whole nation wide civil war. But what else was he to do when Aiur refused. Now it wasn't in the form of a 'no', but more like this, 'I will admit that your religion holds the strongest bonds in this nation Emperor Li, but I shall not admit that it has to be the only one…nor is it the wrong one as you so claim, if I say that here and now I'd be lying to my heart, and as in my teachings you should always listen to your heart…and I could not lie to my heart with what you believe to be the truth.'."
"So the prelate…your teacher, was imprisoned…that wasn't really smart." Said Sokka.
"Still your tongue lad, and show better respect for those who are not—!" Aldaris started to yell at him, but Rain interrupted and said, "Aldaris…calm yourself, the boy has a good point and I shall not dismiss it for many believed that Aiur getting himself imprisoned was not a smart move, but you have to remember that Aiur had many followers by now, and at the age of 47…could you imagine, slowly Pi-Kaow Li started to hear small cases of civil disobedience, at first they were small, far spread…but within three weeks time one-third of the Fire Nations' population refused to work for the emperor unless the prelate Aiur was released. Now of course he could send his military to handle it, but how would that make him look to the eyes of his subjects?"
"So a week later he released Aiur to discuss details at which both he and the other Dark Fire-benders could live peacefully, eventually he granted them plots of land throughout the nation to do as they wished, and all was good…until Oazi came to power."
"And that leads us to now, we know we do not have much in the way of money. But working with weapons most of our lives has taught us to make hunting tools, and traps to guard our village in case our brethren should hunt us." Rain told them.
That night as they went to bed, Katara couldn't help but wonder what Tem Li looked like behind that cloak and all, tomorrow she'd see if he would take it off for her.